Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
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Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
agreeable, and social; but, in addition to this, there was clearly
visible an expression of feeling that was new even to themselves, as
well as to the spectators. But how shall we characterize this feeling?
It was certainly not at variance with the cheerfulness which they felt,
but, at the same time, it shed over it a serene solemnity of manner
which communicated a moral grandeur to the whole proceeding that fell
little short of sublimity. This was a principle of simple virtue upon
which all were equal; but it was more than that, it was at once a
manifestation of humility, and an exertion of faith in the aid and
support of the Almighty, by whose grace those earnest but humble people
felt and trusted that they would be supported. And who can say that
their simplicity of heart--their unaffected humility, and their firmness
of faith have not been amply rewarded, and triumphantly confirmed by the
steadfastness with which they have been, with extremely few exceptions,
faithful to their pledge.
About nine o'clock the town of Ballykeerin was crowded with a multitude
such as had never certainly met in it before. All, from the rustic
middle classes down, were there. The crowd was, indeed, immense, yet,
notwithstanding their numbers, one could easily mark the peculiar class
for whose sake principally the meeting had been called together.
There was the red-faced farmer of substance, whose sunburnt cheeks, and
red side-neck, were scorched into a color that disputed its healthy hue
with the deeper purple tint of strong and abundant drink.
“Such a man,” an acute observer would say, “eats well, and drinks well,
but is very likely to pop off some day, without a minute's warning, or
saying good-by to his friends.”
Again, there was the pale and emaciated drunkard, whose feeble and
tottering gait, and trembling hands, were sufficiently indicative of his
broken-down constitution, and probably of his anxiety to be enabled to
make some compensation to the world, or some provision on the part of
his own soul, to balance the consequences of an ill-spent life, during
which morals were laughed at, and health destroyed.
There was also the healthy-looking drunkard of small means, who, had he
been in circumstances to do so, would have gone to bed drunk every night
in the year. He is not able, from the narrowness of his circumstances,
to drink himself into apoplexy on the one hand, or debility on the
other; but he is able, notwithstanding, to drink the clothes off his
back, and the consequence is, that he stands before you as ragged,
able-bodied, and thumping a specimen of ebriety as you could wish to
see during a week's journey. There were, in fact, the vestiges of
drunkenness in all their repulsive features, and unhealthy variety.
There stood the grog-drinker with his blotched face in full flower, his
eye glazed in his head, and his protuberant paunch projecting over his
shrunk and diminished limbs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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